Preserving milk.



P. W. HOWE.

PRESERVING MILK.

APPLICATION 11.31) SEPT. 23, 1907.

Patented Aug. 15 1911.

.J v y r w W F V 0 m. m H. m W W w c l.. I w .W e F d M x 0 F J 7 6 5 l ml. l m L I. 2 M m l i To all whom a may concern: I

' UNITED. STAT ES PATENT OFFICE.

.FREDERIC W. fiOWE, OF FRAMINGHAM, MASSACHUSETTS.

rnnsnavme MILK.

Specification of Letters Patent. I

rateneeanu 15, 1911.

Application filed September 23, 1907. Serial No. 394,039.

Be it known that I, FREDERIC W. How, a citizen of the United States, residing at Framingham, in the county of Middlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Preserving Milk, of which the fol Y lowing is a specification.

cess In the distribution of milk to consumers,

it is essential to first thoroughly reirigerate.

the same'in an attempt to remove the animal heat, in order to retard bacteriological.

s" in addition it served to remove all noxious and OdOI'lfGIOllS gases present in the,m1lk,

and further, killed the larger part of the bacteria therein.

The object of this invention is, therefore,

for preserving, purifying and coolin milk.-

In carrying this process into'e set, I

v have devised the a paratus shown in the I accompanying drawlng's, in which- Figure 1 is an elevation, partially in sectlon, Illustrating the same. .Fig. 2 is an enlarged'horizonta'l section on'the line XX I in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a cross section of the three-way'valve which I prefer to use.

The apparatus shown is arranged for the treatment of milk after being put in the usual milk-jar, but the process is equally applicable to milk in any other styles of containers. It is on many accounts preferable to employ the process upon the milk after it is placed in the can, jaror other container in which it is to be delivered to the consumer, in order that there'may be no further opportunityv for. its contamination.

For the production of the vacuum, any

I ordinary form of vacuum pumpv may be employed, as the pump 1 shown in Fig. 1; and an air-tight chamber 2 may be used,

from .which the pump is constantly-with-' with drawing the air and vapor. Connected shipment.

said 'chamber is a bell-mouthed member 4, having its inner surface covered with a soft rubber lining 5. By pressing the open mouth of the jar or can 10 up within said bell-mouthed member, into intimate contact with the rubber lining '5, and then turning the valve .6 to open the connecting pipe 7,-

the milk within said can or jar is subjected to the vacuum maintained in said chamber. Thus subjected to the vacuum, the milk rapidly gives off watery vapor to a suiiicient extent to soon cool it to the required degree,preferabty about 38 degrees F. At the same time the gases within ,the milk also escape; the bacteriological germs are ,largely killed, and the milk is left in a condition of coolness and purity which will in sure its keeping sweet-andpure for several days. The valve 6 is then shut, to turn oil the suction; the jar is removed, and its cover or other sealing device applied. During this part of the work, however, more or less air reaches the surface of the milk, and

to a limited degree re-contaminates it- ,To

mouthed member a a suitable distance so I prevent this, I serrate the throat of the bellabove the section rea bed by the mouth of the jar 10, as shown in Fig. 2, and insert the, paper disk 12 usually used for sealing jars oft-his kind. As this disk is applied with one hand, the valve 6 is given a partial turn, enough to retain the disk in place bysuction, and then the glass jar is applied as shown in' Fig. 1. Then the valve 1s opened wide; the" watery vapor and gases pass from the milk through the spaces between the disk and serrations 11, until the milk is sufficiently treated; and finally the valve 6 is turned to another angle to shut off the vacuum-pipe 7, and admit the atmosphere through the valve. By having the same a three-way valve, as shownin Fig. 3, this is easil done. The atmosphere being thus admltted to the spaceabove the paper disk, the latter is instantly forced down into ,the

mouth of the jar in its sealing position.

The jar of milk is then ready at once for It is well'to thus use a threeway valve even if no seal is to be applied through its means, in order that'the vacuum shall not interfere with the .jars removal. If-desired, the intake 13 of said valve may be suitably screened to prevent any access of contaminatin germs to the milk when being sealed as a ove.

.By means of this process, the "milk,

whether in a jar, can or other receptacle, is

simultaneously 'cooled, purified and made capable of lengthy preservation in but a moment of time and at a merely nominal expense. I

-What I claim as my invention and for which I. desire Letters Patent is as follows, to wit The herein described method of preparing milk for delivery to customers, which consists in filling the container which is to be shipped to the consumer, with milk freshly drawn from the cow, connecting a vacuum producing device with the coi1- tainer until the gases and animal heat have been eradicated from such milk, and then applying a permanent seal to the mouth of the container without the access of atmos pheric air. 7 Y v In testimony that I claim the foregoing invention, I have hereunto-set my hand this 19th day of September, 1907.

I FREDERIO W. HOWE. Witnesses:

' A. B. UPI-1AM,

BURTON PAYNE GRAY. 

